Walker's Proposed Halt of Recycling Funds Leaves Hole in Village Budgets

In the 17 years since local recycling programs were mandated by the state of Wisconsin, the practice has grown up from a feel-good initiative that many grumbled about into an environmental and economic framework that most people take pride in.

So waste managers and public works directors throughout southeastern Wisconsin were caught off-guard by Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal to eliminate the recycling requirement for counties and municipalities, along with all state funding to support such programs.

Fox Point Village Manager Susan Robertson said that she had been informed by the state Wednesday that under details of the proposed state budget, the elimination of the municipal requirement for recycling would not take place until July 2012; however, state funding of the programs would halt in July 2011 -- leaving the village obliged to provide the service without the support it has relied upon.

"The difference in the budget for recycling costs beyond the state contribution is made up by the village recycling fee," which is currently set at $68 for the year, Robertson said. "We would have to raise the fee.

"Another alternative would be to reduce the level of service. We now pick up recycling once a week. We might have to reduce that service."

Robertson said it would be hard to say how residents would view a sudden fee increase.

"Fox Point residents as a whole would be in support of recycling, I would think," she said. "Even in this economy, there would be people who would support it even if it meant paying more.

"But people on fixed incomes might prefer to let it go by the wayside."

The budget in Fox Point for the recycling program for 2011 is $262,660, of which $86,920 was expected to come from the state contribution. That amounts to 33 percent of the total budget, and making up that shortfall while still providing the service is the big question local officials and residents will face.

"That's the unfortunate part of this elimination of home rule," Robertson said. "It eliminates a municipalitie's ability to tailor its services to its needs."

Among those taken aback by the governor's proposal to end the recycling law was Bayside Village Manager Andy Pederson.

"If there was anything in the budget that we weren't led to expect, I think this was the most surprising," Pederson said. "I think there's a strong commitment to recycling; it's very much ingrained in the fabric of Bayside."

Bayside is unusual in that it does not have a private contract for collecting recyclables. Village staff performs the pickup service and delivers the materials to a Veolia Environmental transfer station.

Pederson said that last year the village collected 550 tons of recyclable material. Without the recycling program, Bayside would have had to pay $45 to $50 a ton in tipping fees to landfill the material.

"Before the economy went south, we were getting rebates," Pederson said. Depending on the markets, he said, "there is a little revenue in it."

According to the village website, Bayside saw a 30 percent increase in recycling volume in 2010 over 2009.  In an average week, the village collected between 10 to 13 tons of recyclable materials.

Bayside has invested considerable resources toward increasing recycling participation and streamlining the process for residents. In 2009, the village moved to single-stream recycling and saw immediate increases in the volume of recyclable materials. In 2010, larger wheeled carts were provided, and again the response was an increase in household recycling, which reduces village costs through lower landfill tipping fees.

DNR will help with transition

At the state level, Ann Coakley, director of the Bureau of Waste and Materials Management of the Department of Natural Resources said: “We do realize the tie to private business. Recycling is still cheaper than landfilling, and the DNR still has a strong recycling education program focused on collecting and reusing.

“So, nothing has changed with us, and will work with our stakeholders to make a transition.”

Coakley said that in 2009, the state grant program paid out $27.9 million to communities and that the total cost of recycling to all communities was $108.2 million. She did not have a figure for how much of that amount was recovered through sale of the material because the markets fluctuate.

The Sierra Club was instrumental in creating the recycling law, which was passed in 1990 but went into effect in 1994. Cherie Briscoe of the Great Waters Group, which represents metro Milwaukee-area counties, was among those who lobbied for the law.

“The governor is playing a shell game by taking funds that were paid through taxes on landfill waste created specifically to help communities set up and operate recycling programs,” Briscoe said. “It has been a mandate that works, and most communities have been able to neutralize its cost with the help of the recycling fund dollars.

“It has also helped to discourage people from being wasteful. 

“The taxes paid have supported good jobs that ultimately produce new products as well as conserving valuable resources and educating our children and families about conservation," he added. "This is another example of false economy that will not only hurt communities,  it will take away jobs that have been particularly good for low-skilled individuals. Recycling has been, and continues to be, a win-win environmental and energy-saving program for all of us.”